Nilsson - C or D?

11:20am saturday... 2 hours sleep... last night total debauch... going to a funeral in an hour... "gotta get up" just about the perfect song right now.

Quick question: Did the vinyl issue ofThat's The Way It Is have a special innersleeve? I picked up a copy sans innersleeve this weekend and am curious, since some of the later Nilsson lps had sleeves w/in-jokes on them.

It would seem not: Skimmed my usual places of info for this, and havent found one.

Why is the "Who is Harry Nilsson?" documentary still not out on dvd?!! Blurg.

Just about the best thing ever:

nilsson/nilsson/nilsson...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOwUvGgAL0k

it has dawned on me this past week that "don't forget me" is an astonishingly beautiful song.

yes! it's a highlight of Pussy Cats. He's learned from the old masters on A Little Touch and written a subtle lyric, but not without a cheap laugh or two (I'm thinking esp. of the alimony line). But the vocal is heartbreaking, esp. in light of what's to come in his career. I love this album so much.

the whole song is pretty brutal, though.

I'll Never Leave You is so lovely <3

After living with two different greatest hits comps for years and years, I've slowly been picking up the actual albums in the last year. Bought Nilsson Schmilsson first, which in a way was a let-down because I already knew all the best songs and wasn't that into the others. Then I happened across A Touch of Schmilsson in the Night and was pretty bored by that one. Finally two weeks ago I got Pandemonium Shadow Show and that one is stellar, front to back. Next up for me will be Aerial Ballet, I think.

For me a moment that handily sums up the dude is the first verse of "Moonbeam." He's singing, with his gorgeous, free-floating voice, a rhyming list of places you may have seen a moonbeam, just some great imagery:

Have you ever watched a moonbeam
As it slid across your windowpane
Or struggled with a bit of rain
Or danced about the weathervane
Or sat along a moving train
And wondered where the train has been?

And that last line breaks the rhyme and forces some more syllables in and interest is heightened a bit, so then he drops:

Or on a fence with bits of crap around its bottom
Blown there by a windbeam?

Casually dropping the word "crap" in there, which isn't a totally crass or disgusting word but is really silly – man, it just tickles me every time. Such a Harry thing to do.

just reveling in Aerial Pandemonium Ballet and wondering what other acts pursued the possibilities of this side of the Beatles: elegant but playful, tunes over conceptual depth, gorgeous but always aching.

How come this still hasn't come out (as far as I know)?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmmwMx06Pg8

no idea but it looks nice!

I just ask because the trailer has been online since 2006. Apparently it's been shown at a few festivals, but there's still nothing about a dvd release. I want to SEE IT!

i want to see this urgently!!

yeah.

would totally watch this

it is kind of a bummer Harry died when he did -- he should've had at least one late-career classic comeback sort of albums.

"Knnillssonn" sorta filled that role. I'm glad he stopped recording though, it was very wise of him.

Yeah but Knillssonn is what 1976 or 77? When did he die, early 90s?

'77. He hadn't made a good album in a while though and then he stopped after it... OK he did make another album after it, but who's heard that?

That doesn't mean it was no good though.

Nah, it's supposed to be dire

Popeye soundtrack is fun.
I heard some song of his from the 80s that was a LA Dodger theme song or something. "Go Dodger Bluuuuue!"

Yah, I know that blog too!

Well, the amount of stuff he'd done and the people he'd worked with, I'd have said he'd earned to right to do something else.

surely Clive Davis coulda worked something out, paired him with Kanye or the guy from Maroon 5 amirite

hey lets throw in a Santana solo

i smell a Grammy

oh wait, that's just the garbage truck rolling by

He should have done more film work. I think he'd have been a very good actor.

surely Clive Davis coulda worked something out, paired him with Kanye or the guy from Maroon 5 amirite

his voice is heartbreakingly shot in every '80s clip i've seen on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C63OcPY6AiE

which explains

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvJ9Yxef5zI

(do not watch those clips if you're easily bummed out)

I'm not going to

such a strange career, this guy - listening to his earlier stuff now and not really digging it tbh. fascination with tin pan alley silliness hasn't really aged well imho, reminds me of early Van Dyke Parks and not in a good way. but once the 70s get rolling, he definitely becomes more interesting.

My buying Nilsson Schmilsson last year was my Classic Album Discovery purchase of the year.

Yes, it's fantastique.

Re. Tin Pan Alley silliness: when I revived this thread yesterday this was on my mind. It's one of the possibilities the Beatles opened for "rock" (cos yeah it was obv possible before them) but I think it's less followed through on than others of the possibilities they opened. Like, glam picked up on the silliness but with tongues in cheek---whereas for the Beatles & Nilsson it was more straight (Lou Reed fits in here somewhere too). But Nilsson's silliness usually is paired with ache, both early & late (and post Pussy Cats he's vey silly again).

his tin pan alley-ish lyrics are usually major bummers when you listen to them ...

he's a great lyricist even when he's in Tin Pan Alley mode, its more the ticky-tacky musical arrangements that I can't get into - usually a bit too arch and cutesy and baroque for their own good ("Paul's granny's music" as Lennon used to call it)

My buying Nilsson Schmilsson last year was my Classic Album Discovery purchase of the year.

After living with and loving his greatest hits for years and years, I finally bought my first proper album of his last year, too. Also Nilsson Schmilsson because that's the one that gets talked up the most. It's awesome, yes. But a month or two back I got Pandemonium Shadow Show and it is way better. Not sure why Nilsson Schmilsson gets so much critical love when the guy had a clearly consistent run of genius.

Nilsson Schmilsson has the hits, which is what keeps it on people's minds. I like that whole mid-career run, though.

Just now discovering HN, I've got Pandemonium Shadow Show, Aerial Ballet, Nilsson Schmilsson, Harry, The Point, and I'm going apeshit over how good all these records are. LUVLUVLUV the Beatles covers (esp "You Can't Do That") on his first two albums. Other favorite tracks at the mmt are "Down To The Valley", "Little Cowboy", "Everybody's Talkin'", "River Deep Mountain High". I saw "Popeye" recently and yes those songs are amazing, kind of traditional sounding yet with really inventive arrangements. The bonus stuff on "The Point" is wonderful, I really like this track a whole lot. It's an advert but it's probably one of the coolest adverts I've ever heard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x68-mnvyMpo

other favorite tracks at the mmt are "Down To The Valley"

Love that song too

It's an advert but it's probably one of the coolest adverts I've ever heard

Here's one he did for tv, for Duit on Mon Dei lp:
http://fortheloveofharry.blogspot.com/2010/01/duit-on-mon-dei-tv-commercial-1975.html

Neat item from that page:

According to Olive Films (via Paramount), Skidoo is set to be released on DVD for the first time in September, 2010. Harry wrote some of the music and even made an acting cameo in the 1968 film.

A neat little gift from the blog a few weeks back, a French TV Special from '68 featuring Harry and the surprisingly fetching Peggy March